A small business lobby group has sounded the alarm over the Carter review's recommendations for changes to the self-assessment filing dates for tax returns.

The Federation of Small Businesses said the sheer size of the reduction in filing time would be a problem for its members.

Lord Carter of Coles was tasked with reviewing the online services of Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs.

Resulting recommendations included the suggestion to bring forward self-assessment filing dates from January 31 to September 30 for paper returns and November 30 for online.

In the Budget in March, the Chancellor accepted the recommendations and agreed to implement them without consultation with the accountancy profession or other interested parties.

The FSB said that as well as putting unnecessary pressure on the accountancy profession, the changes will cause problems for all small firms regardless of whether they file returns themselves or use accountancy services to complete their returns.

Neil Hamper, FSB national tax spokesman, said: "In the Budget the Chancellor accepted Carter's recommendations without any consultation. This unilateral change of tax return dates, with no consultation or consideration of industry views, will create chaos in the short term.

"This creates a shorter period in which to gather up information to complete tax returns. For small firms who submit their own returns this will increase the pressure on them. For those that use accountants it will increase the cost as their service provider will have to take on temporary staff to handle the increased workload.

"Either way it will cause serious difficulties for small firms and accountants"